Russia calls for formal arms reduction treaty with US to replace 1991 agreement News
Russia calls for formal arms reduction treaty with US to replace 1991 agreement

[JURIST] Russian officials said Wednesday that leaders in the country want to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) [text] with a formal, binding agreement with the US that will limit the creation of new nuclear weapons. The treaty, which signaled the end of the Cold War [BBC backgrounder], will expire in 2009.

US President George Bush's administration has said that it wants to replace the treaty with an informal agreement that does not include the strict verification requirements of the current treaty. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian leaders are disappointed with US proposals [RIA Novosti report], and that an informal agreement would be a "failure." AP has more. Kommersant has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.